Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda
by GreenEyesKayK
Summary: He coulda seen it coming. He woulda done something if she didnt catch him. I shoulda listened. AU
1. Chapter 1

I dont own anything in the Gilmore Girl universe. I just play with it :)

Rory Gilmore was not a regular girl. She was a girl who seemed to have it best in two very different worlds. She was a small town girl, living with her mom and dad. Her mother was her best friend and she could go to her with everything and anything she needed. Her mother, Lorelai was only 16 years old when she gave birth to Rory, so sometimes it seemed that they were more sisters then mother and daughter. Her father, Chris, was a very successful lawyer in Harford, though he was always around, unlike some of her friend's parents. Rory knew that both her parents loved her, which was more then many of her friends could say.

The town Rory grew up in, Stars Hallow was also like a family to her. They were the crazy cousins that everyone has and no one really likes to claim, only claim them is exactly what Rory and her mother did. Rory's mother ran from the high society life when Rory was a little over a year old. Both the Gilmores and the Haydens were fighting for Chris and her to get married and she refused. She wanted Chris to have a normal college experience without having to worry about a wife and baby at home. She ran away from her life and became a maid at an inn to support herself. She cut off everyone, including her parents and Chris. Once Chris graduated college, he came looking for his girls. Lorelai and Chris ended up getting married the same year Chris graduated law school and joined his father's firm, throwing Rory and Lorelai back into the life that Lorelai ran away from.

She also had another life that many people could only dream. Rory had just recently graduated from Yale. Her boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend now, was Logan Huntzberger, the newspaper heir. Dates often consisted of expensive wines and limos, Vera Wang dresses and Berkin bags. Rory didn't ask for theses things, nor did she need them, but she appreciated them anyways. Rory didn't need her (now ex) boyfriend to buy her theses things, she could pay for it all on her own. That's what happens when you are the only heir to the Gilmore and Hayden families.

Logan Huntzberger was in love with Rory Gilmore and Rory loved him, but sometimes love isn't enough, as they found out. Logan was afraid of any form of commitment until

Rory came around. He partied every night with his friends, Finnegan "Finn" Morgan and Colin McCrae (not that Rory didn't do her fair share of partying with then throughout the years). Rory watched all throughout high school as Logan went through one girl after the other, a lot of the time, straining relationships with her friends in the process. This among other reasons, is why Rory was best friends with Logan, Colin and Finn. They were the only three people that Rory could trust, and now it's down to two.

Logan was found the night before Rory's graduation in a compromising position with one of the interns at his and his father's paper. Logan had just recently started to take over the company from his father. Rory was going to surprise him because he was working late with some kind of "paper emergency." The emergency she walked in on was him in his office kissing an intern. Rory stormed away and hadn't spoken to him since. She ignored his phone calls and refused to see him when he came to see her. She refused to listen to anything he said.

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Logan knew he was in trouble. He knew that no matter what he did she wouldn't forgive him, she had said so MANY times before. If he were ever to cheat on her, not to even bother crawling back to her, their relationship and 14 year friendship was over. It was a risk he was willing to take because he had had no intention of ever being with someone else, ever. He was going to propose after Rory graduation. He had it all planned out, down to the kiss when she said yes, then she walked into his office.

One of the editors of a small paper in New York, wife went into labor early and Logan had to take over to make sure the paper made it out that day. He also had to line up someone else to come in until the editor was able to come back to work. There was no way that he was missing Rory's graduation, for anything.

He thought that he was the only one in the building, in fact when he stopped for a quick bathroom break around 10 pm everything was dark and quiet. This was how he enjoyed the newsroom. No one was kissing his ass or trying to suck up to the boss's son and soon-to-be new boss. No one was running to him with problems or questions that he was sure someone else could answer. No one was demanding to approve layouts or questioning whether their job was in jeopardy. This was the perfect time to get all the paper work done he needed to in order to take tomorrow off.

The next thing happened so quick, that he wasn't even sure what happened. One minute he was signing his name at the bottom of some meaningless report and leaning back and closing his eyes for a second (it had been a long day and he needed a short break before he went back to his paperwork) and the next he was throwing some stupid intern to the floor chasing Rory to the elevator. He didn't know what happened. One minute he was resting his eyes and the next he felt someone's lips on his and it took him a few seconds to realize that the lips firmly attached to his, and the tongue trying to force its way into his mouth wasn't Rory's. As soon as he realized this he pushed the mystery woman to the floor, which turned out to be a no-name intern, but it was too late. Rory had seen the kiss.

Now Logan wasn't a stupid man. He knew what it looked like so he ran after her. Rory ignored him, running down the 18 flights of stairs (in heels) and jumping into her car. No matter what Logan did, she wouldn't listen, even when he caught up to her by her car. She just slammed the door in his face and peeled the car out of the parking garage, never looking back.

Logan had tried everything that night. He called her repeatedly, both on her cell and on her bedroom line. He drove to her house in Stars Hallow and tried for 3 hours to have someone let him in. The maid finally came to the door and was told that he wasn't welcome inside and to leave or the Hayden's were going to call the police. He had no choice to leave then.

Currently Logan was sitting in his apartment in New Haven trying to figure out what to do next. Stephanie, Rory's best girl friend, refused to talk about what happened a few short days ago and Finn and Colin couldn't offer any clues. They hadn't talked to Rory at all since the incident. They wanted to but Rory wasn't answering their calls either. Stephanie Vanderbelt said it was in case Logan tried to use one of their phones to call and talk to her. Logan had to admit, she had thought of everything because that is exactly what he did first thing the following morning, the day of her graduation. He was left leaving pleading messages on her voicemail, knowing that she would never listen to them.

On the day of Rory's graduation, he didn't know what he should do. He had a ticket, a seat right next to Rory's father. Would he be welcome? Would Chris attempt to throw him out? Should he even risk it and go? He didn't know the answer to any of the questions.

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Rory had just woken up from a very bad sleep the night before. In fact, she hadn't had a good night's sleep since the night she found Logan with that intern. She knew that deep down Logan would never cheat on her, but she was ignoring this fact and she buried that thought deep down because her emotional side had taken over completely. All she cared about and could feel was her broken heart and every time she closed her eyes, she saw the intern kissing him. If she thought about it logically, she would have realized that he threw her aside and wiped his mouth, as in disgust, before he realized she was there, or that as he tried to talk to her by her car, he had tears in his eyes, and Logan Huntzberger does not cry. He didn't cry when his grandfather died, he didn't cry when his father told him he would never be good enough, and he surely didn't cry when his sister, Honor, had left for college, leaving him alone in the cold, unfeeling, Huntzberger household. In fact the only time she ever saw him cry was when they had told each other that they loved each other for the first time.

Rory had to get moving, she couldn't lay in bed anymore and think about this. She needed to get up, take a shower and begin getting ready for her graduation and the beginning of the rest of her life. The shower had not been kind to her lately. Before the "office incident" (as she was calling it) occurred, the shower was her time to think and reflect on her day. Now it was a time to cry where no one could tell. It was a time of her heart to break again and times for her break down completely. This is where she cried hysterically and she didn't have to worry about any one hearing her or walking into the room to see how she is. After a few minutes of her hysterically crying in the shower, which was quickly becoming an every day occurrence, she knew that she had to get over it for the moment and get a grip so that she could get threw the graduation ceremony and the party for her that would follow.

She began washing her hair and then her body. She got out of he shower and did all the things that girls always did to get ready: blow-dried her hair, curled it, applied hair spray to keep the curls, did her make-up and put on her white vera wage dress that would be covered by that stupid gown they had to wear. She paired this up with simple white pumps and diamond necklace and earrings. As she put the necklace on, she realized that Logan had bought it for her for Christmas. She thought about changing it, but decided against it. She didn't know if Logan would show up today, but if he didn't she wanted a part of him there today.

Maybe, just maybe, she though, her resolve was breaking and she was willing to at least listen to what Logan had to say.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis Hueghes…….Bethany Huggy…….Melissa Gailes……..

Rory was standing a few feet from the stage, bouncing nervously back and forth. She waited for this day for a long, long time. It was the day she officially say she was a professional journalist. All she needed to do was walk across that stage and receive that (very expensive) piece of paper that said I finished college.

Anthony Gells……David Giales…..Victoria Giffin…..

Rory was too nervous to think about anything other then walking across that stage and shaking the president's hand. At that moment, she was freaking out because she knew that her world was changing. There was no longer classes and professors to go to with issues, there wasn't a TA to proof read your paper and their definitely weren't grades so you knew what you needed to improve. Ahead of all the graduates were job applications, resumes and maybe, if they are lucky, a job. To say Rory was freaking out would be an understatement.

Michelle Gilbert….. Lorelai Gilmore….

Rory began the trek across the stage. Once she had her diploma in her hand, she turned and looked for her family. They were easily located, with names like Gilmore, Hayden and (at the time) Huntzberger, you were pretty much guaranteed amazing seats. She easily picked out her mother at the end of the aisle. She smiled brightly at her and Lorelai made a face at her daughter. He father just smiled happily and her grandparents, both sets, just beamed happily. What she didn't expect was what she saw next. In the seat that was suppose to be Logan's she saw Finn.

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Logan woke up the day of Rory's graduation with his decision made. He would go to her graduation and try to make her talk to him. He would explain exactly what happened to both her and her family and try to make everyone see reason. But first he needed to find a way to get a seat for graduation without having to sit next to her grandparents. He wasn't ready to explain everything to them first. Rory needed to hear what happened first before he would even try to explain things to her family. Things were tough enough without having her father staring him down and the grandparents pooling their money to find the best hit man available. He knew exactly what he would do and he needed one of his best friends to agree to it.

Logan picked up his cell phone and saw his favorite picture of his Ace on the background of his phone. She had fallen asleep on her stomach, after a long night of passionate sex, but it wasn't what she was wearing, or not wearing in this case. It was the way the moonlight made her glow like an angel. The way her hair laid across her cheek, making Logan's fingers itch to move it away, every time he saw it. He loved looking at this picture because it showed him how perfect she was for him and how much of a godsend she actually was.

After a few seconds, Logan snapped out of his Ace induced daydream and pressed number 4 on his speed dial.

"Hey Finn, I need your help." Logan said even before Finn could say Hello.

"Logan, Man. What can I do for you." Finn replied easily.

"I need to switch tickets with you for today."

"Ticket? Ticket for what?"

"Don't play this game with me Finn. You know exactly what I am talking about. Rory's graduation. I know you, Colin and Steph all have tickets for today."

"O.K. fine, But why do you need my ticket? Don't you have one of your own?"

"Yeah, next to the Gilmores. I'm not exactly welcome there right now and I would rather not die before I had a chance to talk to Rory."

"So you want me to sit next to Reporter Girl's family?"

"Yeah I do. I figured that you would be the best choice. Loralai loves you and so do the Haydens and the Gilmores. Colin would make it awkward and Steph wouldn't keep her mouth shut and make things worse. I need you to do this for me Finn."

"O.K. man, I'll do it but you had better have a good plan to get Reporter Girl to talk you."

"See that's were you sitting with the family comes into play……"

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Rory couldn't understand why Finn would be sitting with his family. That was Logan's seat. Did that mean that he didn't come? Did he give his ticket to Finn? Did that mean he gave up on them? Seeing Finn in Logan's seat hurt so much. So much more then she thought it would. It felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. This pain caused her so much more turmoil. Why did it hurt so much to see Finn instead of Logan? Did she really think that he was going to show up after she ignored his phone class for the past 24 hours? What was she thinking? All she had to do was listen to Logan because, deep down, she knew he would never hurt her like that. She knew exactly what she needed to do.

Logan met up with Finn, Colin, and Stephanie outside the auditorium where the graduation was to take place.

"I hope this works Logan." Colin said.

"I do too Colin, I do too."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!" Finn said happily.

"Finn, I need you to do your part for this to work." Logan replied.

"I know man. Have no fears she will come talk to you today."

"Finn make sure you don't say anything about Logan that will piss her family off anymore the they already are." Stephanie added warningly.

"Thanks Mom. I know the plan and I will stick to it. I swear." Finn said.

"O.K. let's go then. I don't want to stand out here all day." Colin stated.

"Fine, let's get this show on the road." Logan said, "Finn please….."

"Don't worry everything will work out perfectly."

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Finn walked down the aisle, looking for his seat. When he found his row, he couldn't help but chuckle. _Having three powerful last names on the tickets must have gotten them theses seats. Come to think of it, it must have gotten them all theses tickets seeing as most graduates get two tickets, maybe three at the most and Rory's family takes up an entire row._

"Aw, Loralai, so nice to see you again."

"Finn! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Reporter Girl walk across the stage in her moment of fame."

"Finn, she'll love that. Thank you."

" No thanks needed. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Mr. Hayden, Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, Judge and Mrs. Hayden," he greeted all in turn and took his seat.

"What is he doing here?" Chris asked Loralai.

"Apparently to see Rory walk across a stage."

"Serious Lor.."

"It wouldn't surprise me if Logan is here somewhere and is using Finn being in his seat as a way to get Rory to talk to him."

"Would he do that?"

"Yes if he thinks it's the only way to get her to speak to him again."

"Well for both their sakes, I hope it works."

"Me too Chris, me too."


End file.
